NP? yes let's use the Cuban Missile Crisis analogy, & more

[pynchonoid]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32261-2002Oct15.html

Letters to the Editor
 
War and the Future of Iraq 

In his Oct. 4 op-ed column, Charles Krauthammer chides
Democrats for trying to work with the United Nations
on Iraq. He compares a statement by Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy, who is willing to do this, with one by
President John F. Kennedy, who, during the Cuban
missile crisis, implied that the United States
reserved the right to take unilateral action.

But the Cuban situation is not comparable with what we
face today. In 1962 the United States had photographic
proof that Soviet forces in Cuba were installing
nuclear-tipped intermediate range missiles. In
response, the United States began a quarantine (not an
invasion) and the U.N. Security Council became an
important forum in getting the Soviets to back down.

Today, the Bush administration offers no proof that
Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, much less the
ability to deliver them to the United States. Hence, a
first step of sending U.N. weapons inspectors back to
Iraq makes sense.

RONALD M. LEGRO
Milwaukee



"After carefully considering the alternatives of an
immediate U.S. invasion of Cuba (or air strikes of the
missile sites), a blockade of the island, or further
diplomatic maneuvers, President John F. Kennedy
decided to place a naval “quarantine,” or blockade, on
Cuba to prevent further Soviet shipments of missiles.
Kennedy announced the quarantine on October 22 and
warned that U.S. forces would seize “offensive weapons
and associated matériel” that Soviet vessels might
attempt to deliver to Cuba. During the following days,
Soviet ships bound for Cuba altered course away from
the quarantined zone. As the two superpowers hovered
close to the brink of nuclear war, messages were
exchanged between Kennedy and Khrushchev amidst
extreme tension on both sides. On October 28
Khrushchev capitulated, informing Kennedy that work on
the missile sites would be halted and that the
missiles already in Cuba would be returned to the
Soviet Union. In return, Kennedy committed the United
States never to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly
promised to withdraw the nuclear-armed missiles that
the United States had stationed in Turkey in previous
years. In the following weeks both superpowers began
fulfilling their promises, and the crisis was over by
late November. Cuba's communist leader, Fidel Castro,
was infuriated by the Soviets' retreat in the face of
U.S. power but was powerless to act."

To cite this page:
"Cuban missile crisis" Encyclopædia Britannica
<http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=28554>
[Accessed October 16, 2002]. 




....meanwhile, down under:


Angry Australians link attacks to Howard's support for
US war 

PRIME Minister John Howard was yesterday forced to
confront growing anger among Australians that they are
being exposed to terrorist attacks by his government's
strident support for America's war on terror. [...] 

continues at:
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,149244,00.html?









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